The present invention relates to a disc that can be illuminated with laser to form a visible image formed by more than one color, as well as an optical disc apparatus and an image forming method that can form a visible image on the disc on the basis of color image data.
Recordable optical discs such as CD-R (Compact disc-Recordable) and CD-RW (Compact disc-Rewritable) have been commercially and otherwise available. In order to record a variety of data such as music data on these optical discs, optical disc recording apparatuses such as CD-R drive and CD-R drive assemblies are used. In these optical disc apparatuses, information is recorded by illuminating the recording surface on one side of the optical disc with laser associated with the information to be recorded.
In some of these optical discs, the surface opposite the recording surface where music and other data are recorded is processed as by attaching labels on which is printed visible information such as the music title in the music data recorded on the recording surface and the title for identifying the recorded data. Such optical discs are produced by applying a print of the title or the like to a circular label sheet by a suitable means such as a printer and attaching the label sheet to the side of the optical disc opposite the recording surface.
However, in order to produce optical discs having desired visible information such as title recorded on the label's surface in the manner described above, a printer separate from the optical disc recording apparatus is required. Therefore, after recording on the recording surface of a certain optical disc with an optical disc recording apparatus, the following complicated operation must be performed: the optical disc is taken out of the optical disc recording apparatus and a label sheet that has been subjected to printing with a separate printer is attached to the side opposite the recording surface. It has also been proposed that an optical disc having a thermally sensitive surface formed on one side be set on an optical disc recording apparatus and illuminated with laser on the thermally sensitive surface so that the latter changes color to form a visible image. However, the method proposed to date has been unable to form a multi-colored visible image on the basis of color image data and the like.